On the Road Again...

I left Queenstown this morning.  Last night, I watched TV while packing up my things, and was somewhat pleased to find that, of all the American television programs we've exported to this side of the planet, New Zealand Television was actually carrying "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" (the long-form version that airs on Bravo).  I remember the time I was in England and was disappointed to learn that the rest of the world actually got "Jerry Springer," so I'm happy to see they're seeing some of the better examples of American Culture.

Anyway, I got on this "coach" that took me all the way to the glaciers on the West Coast of the South Island.  The coach made frequent stops -- some "photo stops," some "food stops" and some euphemistically referred to as "comfort stops" ("toilets are right there in that building to your left").  I think the thing I was most impressed by were the photo stops -- not the scenery themselves (although this one waterfall was nice) but the fact that we actually got 32 people off a bus, out to a viewing platform, all Kodak Momented, and back on the bus in 5 minutes.  Sometimes tourists can behave.

The food stops were at these teeeeeeny little cafes -- one was actually just a roadside fruit stand (selected, I'm sure, because it was a roadside fruit stand with nice toilet facilities).  We just bought whatever the local speciality was.  At one cafe, it was salmon.  The coach driver said, "You can get some stuff without salmon, too" and I hadn't realized what he meant till I got in there.  It was salmon EVERYTHING.  They sold salmon muffins, fer cryin' out loud. 

Another one was big on meat pies -- this time I had venison.  Never had venison before.  Didn't taste much different from any other meat pie, and I tried not to think about Bambi.